The night of the full moon feels like a slow, deliberate execution.
I stand in front of Lizzie’s portrait, fingertips brushing the painted curve of her smile. My sister. My living sister. And Caleb—the man whose kiss I can still taste—did something unforgivable to her.
“Ma’am, the lord requests you in the hall.”
The maid’s voice trembles outside the door.
I check the silver dagger hidden beneath my skirt, then the small handgun at my waist—loaded with custom silver rounds. One for Caleb. One for Miles, if he really was the one who murdered Lizzie.
In the great hall, Caleb stands with his back to me, staring at the full moon. He’s dressed simply—white shirt, black trousers—but his presence is impossible to ignore. Moonlight pours over him like he belongs to it.
“Isabella.”
He doesn’t turn, but he knows it’s me. He always knows.
“My lord.”
I keep my distance, fingers tightening around the dagger’s hilt.
He turns slowly. His eyes are already pure amber, pupils thinning to sharp feline slits. “Have you made your choice? Tonight, will you kill me, or…”
“Or what?”
“Or choose to trust me.” His gaze meets mine, and something twists painfully in my chest. “Choose us.”
“Us?” A laugh escapes me. “You locked up my sister, and you’re standing here talking about us?”
His expression freezes. “What?”
“Lizzie.” I take a step forward, rage boiling under my skin. “I saw her. In the cellar.”
A shadow crosses his face—something that isn’t anger. Something closer to terror.
“You don’t understand,” he says, striding toward me, gripping my shoulders. “The one in the cellar isn’t—”
A gunshot cuts him off.
Caleb jolts, blood blooming across his shoulder. Miles steps out from the hallway shadows, gun in hand and a cold smile on his lips.
“Good to see you again, Bella.”
His smile widens. “Sorry to interrupt your romantic moment, but I can’t let you ruin the plan.”
“Miles?” My voice cracks. “You said you were in Scotland—”
“I say a lot of things, sweetheart.” He shrugs, raising his second gun at Caleb. “Including lies about who killed your precious fiancé.”
Caleb collapses to one knee, but his eyes stay locked on me. “Isabella, listen—whatever’s in that cellar isn’t Lizzie. It’s—”
Another gunshot.
Caleb folds in on himself with a guttural sound.
“No!”
I run toward him before I can stop myself, instinct drowning logic.
Miles laughs. “Touching. A hunter’s daughter protecting a wolf. Leo would die all over again if he could see this!”
“It was you…” My voice shakes. “You killed Leo.”
“He was weak!” Miles spits. “Thought wolves could coexist with us. I proved him wrong. I killed the girl, drove Blackwood mad, and watched Leo walk to his own death.”
The truth slams into me. I’ve hated the wrong man.
A thunderous crack shakes the hall.
From the direction of the cellar.
“She’s out…” Caleb groans, blood dribbling down his chin.
“I tried to warn you…”
Stone explodes. Dust fills the air as a figure emerges through the rubble.
But she’s not the sister I remember.
Lizzie—or what used to be Lizzie—stands in the ruin.
Her eyes are molten silver.
Her nails long as blades.
Her smile broken and wrong.
“Sister,” she croons, her voice a warped echo, “did you come to watch my performance?”
I freeze. I can’t breathe.
“Silver poisoning…” Caleb rasps. “Miles’s bullet didn’t kill her three years ago. The toxin twisted her. I locked her away so she wouldn’t slaughter everyone.”
Lizzie giggles—the sound sharp enough to pierce bone.
“He told me stories, Bella! Stories about how much he loved me!”
She lunges at Miles, nothing but a silver blur.
The sounds that follow make me gag.
Caleb grabs my hand, pulling me to him. “Now you see why… why I needed you. Not because you look like her…”
He coughs, blood staining his lips.
“But because only hunter’s blood can stop a feral wolf.”
The manor becomes hell. Lizzie—no, the creature wearing Lizzie’s face—rips through Miles’s men. The air tastes like metal and screams.
Miles is already dead. His throat torn open, his eyes frozen in terror.
“Take the dagger…” Caleb leans against me, weaker by the second. “You’re the only one who can end this. She’s not your sister anymore.”
Lizzie turns toward us, silver eyes locking on mine.
“You’d choose him over me, sister? A wolf who killed your precious fiancé?”
“He didn’t—”
“But he will!” she shrieks. “All wolves will! Just like I will!”
She leaps.
Time fractures.
Her face—twisted, furious.
Caleb trying to shield me.
The silver dagger in my hand, catching the moonlight.
A choice. Always a choice.
At the last second, I shove Caleb away and step toward Lizzie.
But not with the dagger.
I wrap my arms around her.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, tears streaming down my cheeks. “For everything.”
She stiffens, claws digging into my back. “Why… why won’t you kill me?”
“Because I’m your sister.” I hold her tighter. “No matter what you’ve become.”
A second passes.
Then another.
Her body softens.
Silver drains from her eyes, replaced by trembling blue.
“Bella?”
Her voice is small.
Scared.
Then she collapses.
Human again.
But dying.